It is not uncommon for companies to ignore the possibilities the IoT holds for them. With 50 to 70 billion devices connected to the internet, the opportunities you gain by using data are endless but can be a little overwhelming. When your knowledge on IoT and data are lacking, making big decisions on what data you want to use, discussing how you want to use it and most importantly for which purposes, can be tough. And these are just the basic questions that can be triggered when discussing using data for your company’s benefit.

“How do we use IoT and the corresponding data to propel our business to the level we need to reach?”

Although it can be a little intimidating at first, using IoT data could help your company greatly, but beware: Make sure your team doesn’t go unarmed into this IoT battle! A lot of companies get stuck when they start using data and will eventually stop, due to a lack of a well thought out plan: How do we use IoT and the corresponding data to propel our business to the level we need to reach?

Bernard Marr has identified 5 essential ways companies can use IoT and structure their data-related discussion:

Improve decision-making
Decision-making can be stressful. By using data from IoT sensors and devices you’ll be able to avoid high risk. Data and analytics will provide the answers you need when dealing with an operational decision. Analyzing your data is the modern fortuneteller; it enables you to foresee and tackle potential future roadblocks.

Understand customers
Knowing your customer is critical to every company’s success. Companies that sell IoT-enabled products maybe have a slight advantage because of the data they can access such as customers usage and behaviour, but data is everywhere. App makers can collect data from data collection and connectivity options on their customer’s smartphones and tablets, creating the opportunity to learn what their customers enjoy about their product or would like to have improved. By using this data, trends and new exciting business opportunities are much more easy to identify.

Deliver new customer value propositions
On top of better knowing and understanding your customers, make them part of your product range. For instance the world’s first digital coffee roaster we talked about in our previous blog post. This smart coffee roaster will gain data from their customers when they use it. Ikawa sees a business opportunity in this data and acts accordingly. They offer the type of beans their customer can use to make the roast they love and enjoy according to the data.

Improve and optimize operations
Make your company more efficient and profitable by using the data you generate from IoT. Imagine you are a coworking space owner: Your access control tool notifies you there are meeting rooms in your coworking space that have not been booked for two weeks. Now you can cancel the cleaners that come twice every week and save some money.

Generate an income and improve the value of the business
Selling your data to other companies is the fastest way to see what its value is. Data you own by running a company in smart lighting can, for instance, be used for reduction of light pollution. This example shows data is one of the most important aspects of any modern business that also thinks about its environment.

Whichever aspect of your business you consider important, top that with data. These five pillars above proof that analyzing, selling or using data for the greater good is a trend we won’t say goodbye too soon. Invest in your data-analyzing department and keep all employees in the loop. Data just might propel your business into heights you never thought you would be able to reach.